This
file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have
collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date
back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday.

This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's
Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at:
http://www.florilegium.org

I
have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with separate
topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous
information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save
space and remove clutter.

The
comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I make no
claims as to the accuracy of the information given by the individual
authors.

Please
respect the time and efforts of those who have written these messages. The
copyright status of these messages is unclear at this time. If
information is published from these messages, please give credit to the
originator(s).

food
processor and whiz for 1 minute, then leave for 5 minutes and process

again.
The liquid should be cream coloured (you could wait and process again

if
you were not in a hurry). Strain through a fine strainer, stirring to get

the
liquid through. Save the meal and clean the strainer. Wring out a cloth

with
water and line the strainer, then pour the milk through into a clean

bowl.
Gather up the cloth and twist until the meal is dry. Dump out the meal

and
replace with the meal from the first straining, then repeat to squeeze

out
the last of the milk. This is some trouble, but makes a very smooth

almond
milk.

BTW
if you make soap, the almond meal is a great additive.

Rowan

Date:
Thu, 4 Jun 1998 22:26:49 -0400

From:
mermayde at juno.com (Christine A Seelye-King)

Subject:
SC - Almond Milk

>Has
anyone tried subbing almond milk in for cow milk? Results?

>Bogdan

I
bought some at the health food store I work at in a Parmalat-type

container.
(About 2.99 a qt.) I also buy Parmalat milk in those boxes

for
days when we are out of milk. One morning my lord opened the almond

milk
up instead of the regular milk (it was there, he just didn't look!)

.
So, we had almond milk in our protein drinks, and in our coffee, and I

even
drank some just because the container was open and I didn't have

time
to cook anything special with it. It was very tasty in all of the

above,
even though I wouldn't have chosen to use it that way.

It
is a little thinner than anything other than skim milk, and it would

not
have the thickening qualities of cow's milk, I wouldn't think.

The
taste and texture of the commercial stuff is very nice, it comes in

regular
and vanilla, and the ingredients list reads like a medieval

recipie.

Mistress
Christianna MacGrain

(But
I'm not buying anymore until I have a specific use for it!)

Date:
Wed, 10 Jun 1998 00:29:05 -0600From: Tim Allison <tallison at
mcs.com>Subject: SC - almond milk in storesWhile shopping at an upscale
supermarket in Chicago, I found in an asepticpackage a beverage labelled almond
beverage. It said to use in any recipewhere dairy milk might be used. The
ingredients are almonds, water, andbrown rice for sweetener. The product is
packaged in Oregon, which meansit's probably available in a large part of the
country. It's not cheap, butneither are almonds, and the amount of time and
trouble it will save areprobably worth quite a bit.Caroline Richenda Carol
Mitchell

Date:
Wed, 24 Jun 1998 19:23:04 EDT

From:
LrdRas at aol.com

Subject:
Re: SC - almond milk

lynnx
at mc.net writes:

<<
I just bought some almond milk at the supermarket. It's called Naturally

Almond, and the ingredients are almonds, water, and brown rice

sweetener(plus a few stabilizers). I haven't tasted it yet, but I'm not

an
expert on how almond milk is supposed to taste. >>

Both
I and my co-feastocrat used this product this weekend. We did not find it

objectionable.
It is slightly different from regular almond milk in several

ways,
but the flavor was good, IMO. It does not seem to have the thickeneing

ability
of hand-made almond milk but that was easily over come with a little

rice
flour.

Would
I use it again? Well, for certain dishes without hesitation but for

others
I would use hand-made.

Ras

Date:
Wed, 24 Jun 1998 21:35:25 EDT

From:
LrdRas at aol.com

Subject:
Re: SC - almond milk

TerryD
at Health.State.OK.US writes:

<<
What would your criteria be for choosing between your almond milk or the

commercial product, in general?

Bear >>

If
you think the redaction is supposed to be thickened by the almond milk the

hand-made
product is superior. If your redaction is dependent on rice flour,

egg
yolks, or bread crumbs for thickening or if thickening is contra-

indicated
then the commercial product seems to work just fine.

Ras

From:
Librarian <betpulib at ptd.net>

Newsgroups:
rec.org.sca

Subject:
Re: almond milk

Date:
Wed, 24 Jun 1998 17:33:38 GMT

Heather
Law wrote:

>
I just bought some almond milk at the supermarket. It's called Naturally
Almond, and the ingredients are almonds, water, and brown rice

sweetener(plus
a few stabilizers).

<<snip>>

Just
a note: The inclusion of sweeteners (esp. brown rice sweeteners)

will
make this product incorrect for most period recipes except perhaps

balncmanger
(a bland dish made with chicken , almond milk, and rice,

sometimes
vaguely sweet, designed to be completely white)

Almond
milk is sometimes used as a beveage in modern arabic cultures (and

perhaps
period ones as well, though I am not sure), but is usually simply

used
as a substitute for dairy products in recipes in Europe, during our

period
of study, and in an extremely broad generality. By and large, it

was
used for various fast/lenten/meatless days, and altered the

taste/texture
of the finished dish as compared to those made with dairy

products.
It is however, an acceptable substitute for those purposes, as

it
behaves well under the right conditions.

Almond
milk is NOT a hassle to make unless you are making it in a period

manner
(ie: grinding by hand in a martar and pestle, which is not too

terribly
onerous once you have the knack). Modern coffee grinders or

blenders
or food processors make short work of grinding almonds very fine

while
adding a quantity of cool water. You then strain out any lumps.

Voila!
Almond milk. Heat it slowly, and you get almond butter, once it's

drained
of it's liquid "whey".

As
a purist, I wouldn't use the store-bought variety when cooking for the

public
because it contains things not found in medieval almond milk

(non-period
sweetner and stabilizers). In a pinch, tho, it might do. I'd

have
to see if it tasted and behaved like REAL almond milk. I suspect the

rice
is there for thickening and viscosity(mouth-feel) as well as

sweetening,
making the product a starch-based rather than a

protein-and-fat-`based
liquid.

I
think what you have found is the health-food version of an almond

milk(less)shake,
meant to be a beverage and not a milk substitute, as

almond
milk was in period. But now I'm curious and have to hunt some down

to
see. Preparing 2 dishes side-by side, using store-bought versus

home-made
almond milk should settle the question nicely.

Lady
Aoife Finn of Ynos Mon

From:
Kevin of Thornbury <kevin at maxson.com>

Newsgroups:
rec.org.sca

Subject:
Re: almond milk

Date:
Wed, 24 Jun 1998 16:21:36 -0400

Organization:
Kingdom of Atlantia

cellio
at usa.net wrote:

>

>
Simple almond milk for the modern kitchen: take almonds, dump into a food

remaining
crushed almonds onto the cloth (which would make it more like

a
marzipan), or if you're supposed to be heaping the almond cheese,

which
would give you a sweetened cheese. Hmmm.....and I have several

pounds
of almonds here at the house....hmmmmm (weekend project, anyone?

<g>)

Never
seen one, before, though, that's done up as a hedgehog--how

adorable
<gg>

--Maire

Martina
Sch=E4fer wrote:

>
,,Kochbuch aus dem Inntal" (cookbook from the Inn valley), late
1500/begin.1600, Bavaria. The german version is made by Danner, Ostbair.
Grenzmarken 12/1970. That's all bibliographical information about the book I
could find. I don't know if there is a version translated into english.

>

>
As well as possible translated the recipe for hedgehock from almonds says:

>
Put fine crunched Almonds into a clean pot and mix the stuff with a small stick
(maybe cinnamon?). Put it on a cloth so it makes a heap and let it drip until
it gets dry (That makes only sense if you made almond milk before. Otherwise
there is no liquid to "drip"). Than put sugar over it. Now take
almonds, cut in 4th, colored with safran and stick with it the hedgehock. Put
thick almondmilk to it and put it in a bowl.

>

>
The question still is, did the put milk/water/wine to the crunched almonds and
thisaway made almond milk or not. I tend to say, they did not. Because if you'd
do that you would'nt get it dry enough anymore to take it away from where you
worked and "put it in a bowl" without destroing your work.

>

>
Whats your opinion?

>

>
Marcellina

From:
Bronwynmgn at aol.com

Date:
Sun, 20 Jan 2002 08:50:28 EST

Subject:
Re: [Sca-cooks] Almond milk

To:
sca-cooks at ansteorra.org

afmmurphy
at earthlink.net writes:

>
I've seen that almond milk is used in any number of recipes. I've a

>
question. Does this at all resemble commercial almond milk? Can that be

>
substituted, if time is a factor? Is it different? Or does it just make

>
more sense to make your own, because you don't want a full quart, or

looks like cow's milk to a certain
extent, but doesn't necessarily behave

the same way - and is not strongly
almond-flavored, at least to my taste.

Brangwayna Morgan

Date:
Tue, 05 Feb 2002 15:37:20 -0800

From:
"Laura C. Minnick" <lcm at efn.org>

To:
sca-cooks at ansteorra.org

Subject:
Re: [Sca-cooks] Almond Milk...place to find it

Jaime
Declet wrote:

>
That is the reason why I am asking because I a few weeks ago I tasted what I
was told was almond milk and to me it tasted like flavored milk with a heavy
almond taste and somewhat sweet. I have never made almond milk but by reading
the recipes I always thought it was more along the lines of milky water. Is it
like coconut milk?

>
Jaime

>
Bronwynmgn at aol.com wrote:

>
The commercial almond milk I've seen has been boxed (and not refrigerated)

>
rather than canned. Many of them do seem to be sweetened somewhat. I'm not

> sure if "everything"
includes the suspended solids or not. I do know

> I should blanch the almonds first,
so I don't have any peel, which

> suggests I don't strain? I was
originally assuming that to get milk,

> I would - but now I'm not sure.

>

> AEllin

Period people used a fairly large amount
of almonds to get a smallish

amount of milk. They were known to re-use
almond draff to get more

than one batch of milk, just as brewers
did to make different grades

of ale. n general, though, almond milk
was strained. The reason some

modern recipes don't always recommend
this is that they assume you're

using a blenderrather than a mortar, and
that any solids in your milk

will be so finely ground as to be
indistinguishable frm the little

curds you get when you cook the milk.

_Could_ be true! ;-) (Dat's da ticket!)

In any case, the theory behind almond
milk is that some of the

thickness comes from emulsified almond
oil. some, perhaps, from

gelatinized starches, but (again, i
theory), almost none of it comes

from almond solids. In practice this may
not be completely true.

In theory, if you're using one of the
neato fifteenth-century (I

think I remember that was where they come
from) English recipes for

almond cheese and/or butter, you strain
the milk. You blanch and peel

the almonds first not so much to prevent
coloring the stuff, but also

to keep unpleasant tannin flavors from
getting into your milk. For

some savory applications (maybe mirrauste
or Le Menagier's

tile-coloreddish) this is less of an
issue, but I'm thinking you

strain the milk, which will, we hope,
still be fairly thick when

you're done, if you did it right and used
the right proportion of

almonds to water, said your prayers, etc.

You then bring it to a boil nd, depending
on your recipe, curdle it

like cheese with an acid, or simply boil
it until the emulsion starts

to break, the proteins start to coagulate
somewhat, and it all

becomes somewhat reduced, and you end up
with what looks like

significantly thickened almond milk. (I
think the recipe you're

talking about is the one that calls for
boiling with no vinegar or

other coagulant added; the one which,
when sweetened, would make a

great filling for cannole?)

Anyway, you boil your strained milk until
it's thick, being careful

not to let it burn (it thickens a bit
faster than you might expect,

and if you stir it frequently, it
shouldn't burn). As it cools it'll

thicken further. Pour this creamy stuff
onto a suitable cloth, like a

tea towel, which will absorb some excess
liquid, without being nappy

enough to get almond crud stuck in its
fibers. You should be able to

gather up the corners and let it hang up
and drip, but it also

shouldn't really be necessary unless you
want it really solid. If you

spread it fairl thinly on a large enough
towel (and I suppose only

experience will really settle these
questions), it should become the

consistency of a thick custard or ricotta
fairly quickly. I believe

the recipe says to sweeten the stuff.

As I say, it would be real good in
cannole or perhaps in little

tartlets (think in terms of an early
frangipane cream).

Adamantius

Date: Mon, 28 Jun 2004 07:22:23 -0400

From: "Phil Troy / G. Tacitus
Adamantius"

<adamantius.magister
at verizon.net>

Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] coconut milk and
rice milk

To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at
ansteorra.org>

Also sprach Sharon R. Saroff:

> I have a cooking competition coming
up and I am interested in

> knowing how period coconut and rice
milks are. I have seen coconut

> milk a an ingredient in Indian
recipes and occasionally in middle

> eastern recipes. I need a
substitute for yogurt because my personna

> would not use it in the same recipe
as meat. I have come up dry on

> my sources at home so far.

I assume (rightly or wrogly) we're
delving into period Kashrut? If

so, are we talking about European or
Middle Eastern Judaic practices?

As Doc suggested, almond milk turns up in
an amazing number of

European recipes as a substitute for
milk, cream, and even eggs. It

does, howeer, lack the tang of yogurt.
Even the couple of European

recipes that curdle the almond milk using
vinegar don't give a

sour-tasting final product. But then,
almond milk is also used in

some Persian and Mughal Indian recipes
even today.

I suspect the reason why coconut milk and
rice milk never took off in

Europe (until, arguably, today) is
because the former doesn't keep as

well as almond milk (coconut can get
rancid fairly easily), and that

that niche can easily be filled by a more
local product, even

asuming almonds aren't local to, say,
Yorkshire, and for the latter,

again, there were more easily available
substitutes.

To substitute for the tang of yogurt as
it is used in places like

India, but without a dairy product, it
seems like places like

tropical SE Asia (where you sometimes
find obviously Indian-inspired

cookery, but in a non-dairy form, places
like Myanmar), citrus juices

like lime play a large role, sometimes
even in dishes with similar

names to their Indian counterparts using
yogurt.

I guess we'd need a little more info
about exactly what you're trying

to accomplish.

Adamantius

Date:
Fri, 19 May 2006 10:25:50 +1200

From:
Adele de Maisieres <ladyadele at paradise.net.nz>

Subject:
Re: [Sca-cooks] Almond Milk Question

To: Cooks
within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

tom.vincent
at yahoo.com wrote:

> I'll
again put out my suggestion to use Blue Diamond's packaged

>
almond milk.

I haven't
tried the stuff (I don't think anyone sells it here), so I

don't
really know what it's like, but I read the ingredients:

Purified
water, almonds, tapioca starch, calcium carbonate, sea salt,

potassium
citrate, carrageenan, soy lecethin, natural flavour, etc,

etc...

vs

Adele's
own almond milk ingredients:

Water,
almonds.

The
inclusion of starch, carrageenan, lecethin, salt, and flavour

basically
says to me "we didn't use enough almonds to make this tasty

and
creamy, so we put some other stuff in instead".

--

Adele de
Maisieres

Date:
Fri, 19 May 2006 10:29:28 +1200

From:
Adele de Maisieres <ladyadele at paradise.net.nz>

Subject:
Re: [Sca-cooks] Almond Milk Question

To:
dailleurs at liripipe.com, Cooks within the SCA

<sca-cooks
at ansteorra.org>

Anne-Marie
Rousseau wrote:

<<<
doesnt the packaged stuff have a ton of sugar and other impurities (such as new
world vanilla) in it? if you're using it for a dessert which is going to be
sweet already, you can get away with it, but as the base for a savory
sauce/dish?

the
only almond milk I've seen on the shelves here has a ton of sugar added :(

>>>

Blue
Diamond has a plain, unsweeted version. It has a number of

ingredients
that aren't water or almonds, but not sugar or vanilla.

(annoyingly,
the sugar in the sweetened version is listed in the

ingredients
as "dried cane juice").

--

Adele
de Maisieres

Date:
Thu, 18 May 2006 23:48:36 -0600

From:
"Caointiarn" <caointiarn1 at bresnan.net>

Subject:
Re: [Sca-cooks] Sausageand Almond milk

To:
"Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>,

<SilverR0se
at aol.com>, <avrealtor at prodigy.net>

First
Renata asked:

>
I will be celebrating my 25th Anniversary in the SCA this November and, I

>
want to prepare a more-or->less authentic feast for my household. No

>
matter what dishes I finally choose, it is obvious that I am going to need

>
a great deal of almond milk. My question is, does it freeze well so I can be

>
making batches all summer long) or should I just make a huge batch as I

>
need it?

YES!
Almond Milk freezes well. It will separate, and look yellow, but once

thawed
& shook vigorously it will be fine. I have even used milk plastic

jugs
{washed}to hold the almond milk. Just remember to not fill it to the

top,
leave room for expansion.

Date:
Fri, 19 May 2006 04:56:52 -0700 (PDT)

From:
<tom.vincent at yahoo.com>

Subject:
Re: [Sca-cooks] Almond Milk Question

To:
Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

Here's
the URL for details on all varieties. http://

www.bluediamond.com/shop/natural/almondBreeze32.cfm

The
packages aren't that big (32 oz.), so they really don't have a

ton
of *anything* in them. With 75% of the calories coming from fat,

it's
abundantly clear that they're coming from the almonds and not

from
any of the other minor ingredients.

Recommended.

Duriel

Date:
Wed, 31 May 2006 19:57:00 -0400

From:
Tom Vincent <Tom.Vincent at yahoo.com>

Subject:
[Sca-cooks] Almond Milk revisited

To:
Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

I
thought I'd mention that at this past weekend's Alles Faire, we used

several
quarts of the Blue Diamond unsweetened, unflavored Almond Milk

to
prepare various dishes.

All
of us cooks agreed that the expense of almonds and the time to make

almond
milk from scratch just wasn't worth it when you're cooking for

200.

Duriel

Date:
Thu, 01 Jun 2006 12:14:54 +1200

From:
Adele de Maisieres <ladyadele at paradise.net.nz>

Subject:
Re: [Sca-cooks] Almond Milk revisited

To:
Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

Daniel
Myers wrote:

>
Did it behave like regular almond milk?

>

>
Anyone using it for a feast might want to take extra care - there

>
might be a potential allergen issue. The ingredients list has (among

>
several other things) evaporated cane juice and soy lecithin.

Evaporated
cane juice = sugar. And it's not in the unsweetened

version.

--

Adele
de Maisieres

Date:
Wed, 31 May 2006 20:15:29 -0400

From:
Tom Vincent <Tom.Vincent at yahoo.com>

Subject:
Re: [Sca-cooks] Almond Milk revisited

To:
Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

*Unsweetened*.
It worked just fine. Although, I must say that almond

milk
is such a subtle flavor easily overwhelmed by others that I think

it
simply adds richness and calories without much benefit. I prefer

using
it in dishes that would really benefit from it.

Duriel

Daniel
Myers wrote:

>
Did it behave like regular almond milk?

>

>
Anyone using it for a feast might want to take extra care - there

>
might be a potential allergen issue. The ingredients list has (among

>
several other things) evaporated cane juice and soy lecithin.

>

>
- Doc

Date:
Thu, 01 Jun 2006 12:27:29 +1200

From:
Adele de Maisieres <ladyadele at paradise.net.nz>

Subject:
Re: [Sca-cooks] Almond Milk revisited

To:
Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

Daniel
Myers wrote:

>
D'oh! Must have got the wrong link on the Blue Diamond web site.

>

>
Huh. The unsweetened one lists tapioca starch instead of the cane

>
juice.

Hrm,
I know. It lists a number of things that are neither water nor

almonds.

--

Adele
de Maisieres

Date:
Wed, 28 Feb 2007 08:37:27 -0500

From:
Johnna Holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>

Subject:
Re: [Sca-cooks] dessert onions

To:
alysk at ix.netcom.com, Cooks within the SCA

<sca-cooks
at lists.ansteorra.org>

This
is the only one that I have found that might come close

and
I suspect that it only fits depending upon what one's idea

of
a sweet dish should be--

<snip>

There
is also this oddball one for an Almond milk that includes onions

/This
is an excerpt from *Le Menagier de Paris* (Janet Hinson, trans.)

<<<
I do not remember who gave a recipe for almond milk with skins still

attached.
Lladonora directs that the almonds be peeled before

crushing
them in a mortar. See Josep Lladonora, La Cocina Medieval,

p.
158. It has never occurred to me to leave the skins on.

Suey
>>>

Most
recipes seem to call for peeled, blanched almonds, since the

object
will be something that looks like milk.

However,
some recipes (usually calling for a brownish, russet or

reddish-colored
sauce in the final product) call for unpeeled and/or

unblanched,
and sometimes toasted, almonds for this purpose. Most

mirrauste
recipes and le Menagier's tile of meat and crayfish come to

mind
as examples of the latter.

Adamantius

Date:
Sun, 22 Nov 2009 06:27:32 -0800

From:
"Laura C. Minnick" <lcm at jeffnet.org>

To:
Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

Subject:
Re: [Sca-cooks] Best way to make almond milk?

<<<
I have read so many ways to make almond milk, both modern and medieval.

I'm
wondering what you all think is the best way to get rich almond milk

for
a Lenten recipe. I'm testing the Genestada recipe from Sent Sovi.

Madhavi
>>>

I
do it in the blender- the grinding part, that is. Run them until

they're
mealy sort of powder, about the texture of of corn meal. The add

some
water, blend until it's mixed. Then I put a cheesecloth in a

strainer
that is set over a bowl, put the almond slurry in it, then

pull
the cheesecloth into a sort of bag, and twist the top to squeeze

the
milk out. Do it until you can get anymore out. Put the almonds back

in
the blender, add water, and do it all again, until you stop getting

'milk'
out and get something about the consistency of nonfat milk.

Squeeze
the almond one last time, as hard as you can. Set the almond

milk
aside for an hour or so. It will settle out some, and the richest,

the
'cream' is at the top. If you want really rich almond milk, that's it.

My
kids used to eat the leftover almond meal. It doesn't taste

particularly
almondy, after having all the fat milked out. but it can be

fun
to play with- a medieval sort of play dough. :-)

'Lainie

Date:
Mon, 23 Nov 2009 08:25:47 +1300

From:
Antonia Calvo <ladyadele at paradise.net.nz>

To:
Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

Subject:
Re: [Sca-cooks] Best way to make almond milk?

Judith
Epstein wrote:

On
22 Nov 2009, at 8:27 AM, Laura C. Minnick wrote:

<<<
I do it in the blender- the grinding part, that is. Run them until they're
mealy sort of powder, about the texture of of corn meal. The add some water,
blend until it's mixed. >>>

You
can also buy ground almonds. I believe Bob's Red Mill has it on their product
list.

-------

Nix.
Pre-ground almonds usually make terrible almond milk.

--

Antonia
di Benedetto Calvo

Date:
Mon, 23 Nov 2009 08:28:26 +1300

From:
Antonia Calvo <ladyadele at paradise.net.nz>

To:
Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

Subject:
Re: [Sca-cooks] Best way to make almond milk?

<<<
Do you add hot water or cold? I have always used hot water in the food
processor with the almonds, does cold work better?

I
use sliced almonds because they're cheapest around here, do whole

almonds
give richer milk?

My
almond milk always looks like something between low-fat milk and

skim
>>>

Sorry,
I know this was directed at Lainie, but this is a subject I can't say enough
about.

Whole
almonds give the richest milk-- comes out looking like a pail of

very
rich (not-low fat!) milk.

I
use water that's hot but not boiling.

--

Antonia
di Benedetto Calvo

Date:
Wed, 5 May 2010 13:39:58 -0700 (PDT)

From:
wheezul at canby.com

To:
"Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

Subject:
Re: [Sca-cooks] Cutting capons into 7ths, Chicken Ambrosino

from
Libro di cucina

Although
I can't speak for any kind of cross-over culturally, the very

first
recipe in the German Wecker cookbook is for almond milk. The use of

almond
milk as an ingredient is common in the recipes in this particular

cookbook.
In this first recipe there are careful instructions to lay the

almonds
in hot water and remove the skins and then further to wash them.

It
even goes so far to instruct not to use an iron pestle in the grinding

process
because it will turn the almonds dark and bitter.

Apparently
the whiteness of the almond milk is thought of as a desirable

quality,
because the potential whiteness is mentioned later in some of the

almond
compounds made with an almond milk (which could be almonds and

water
or almonds and milk).

There
are also notations of the 'thickness' of the almond milk, which I

interpret
to come perhaps from the almond to water ratio. I may be just

me,
but I find the almond skins a wee bit bitter.

Katherine,
still a rank newbie, who is not pleased with the current

'brains'
preparations she is slogging through on the bus in the morning.

Queasy
making, it is.

<<<
That's a very good point, I hadn't thought of that possible translation

issue.
I know we have unskinned almonds at home and I'll be getting whole

skinned
ones. I may make a small bowl of almond milk with each and

document
if there are any color or flavor variations as a result. As the

solids
are removed, there may not be much if any change between the two.

Raffaella
>>>

Date:
Wed, 1 Aug 2012 17:57:43 -0400

From:
Guenievre de Monmarche <guenievre at erminespot.com>

To:
Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

Subject:
Re: [Sca-cooks] How to strain almond milk through a cloth

<<<
This is driving me crazy as it takes so long. I have tried everything

coffee
filters, burlap, you name it and the liquid just sits there. Does

anyone
have a way that is faster then just giving it a whirl from time to

time?

Suey
>>>

I
find that it helps - or at least makes me feel like I'm doing something -

to
continuously stir the mixture as it sits in the strainer.

Guenievre

Date:
Sun, 23 Nov 2014 17:47:56 -0800

From:
"Laura C. Minnick" <lcm at jeffnet.org>

To:
sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org

Subject:
Re: [Sca-cooks] Almond Milk

On
11/23/2014 3:25 PM, Susan Lord Williams wrote:

<<<
I don't trust store bought almond milk.

The
Andalusian way is simple. Its ground peeled raw almonds. Add chicken or meat
broth and strained through a cheesecloth. If I don't have broth, I mix water
and a bouillon cube. With a food processor to grind the almonds its speedy.

Every
week, I have recipes calling for it so I would be terribly limited if I didn't
use recipes calling for almond milk. >>>

I
think it is fairly safe to say that almond milk in period is generally

*not*
made with broth, as it is most often seen in Lenten/fast day

recipes,
and those days preclude meat products. Which includes broth.

Liutgard

Date:
Mon, 24 Feb 2014 22:02:26 -0600

From:
"TerryDecker" <t.d.decker at att.net>

To:
"Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

Subject:
Re: [Sca-cooks] Does almond milk curdle?

<<<
almond milk and verjuice? Doesn't this curdle?

Or
does almond milk not curdle if you add an acid to it? Or is verjuice not

sour
enough?

Or
am I really off and adding vinegar to milk won't cause it to curdle?

Thanks,

Stefan the Inquistive >>>

Milk
is an emulsified colloid of butter fat suspended in water. Verjuice

and
vinegar are acidic clarifying agents that force the colloids out of

suspension.

Almond
milk is a suspension rather than an emulsion. You can get clumping,

bacterial
or mold infection, but it shouldn't curdle in the sense you are

using
the word.

Bear

Date:
Tue, 25 Feb 2014 13:42:09 -0300

From:
Susan Lord Williams <lordhunt at gmail.com>

To:
sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org

Subject:
[Sca-cooks] Does almond milk curdle?

Stefan
asked that question.

My
gut reaction was no but googling it, I found store that bought almond milk can
curdle for the same protein attraction produced in milk when it curdles.
Contrary to milk, curdled almond milk does not seem to be bad. Like Hollandaise
sauce it can be beaten and saved.

I
have never personally bought ready made almond milk. I have not seen it on sale
in any of the countries in which I have lived. I have never had almond milk
made from scratch curdle on me, perhaps because I use it immediately.

Sue

Date:
Tue, 25 Feb 2014 13:06:44 -0500 (EST)

From:
JIMCHEVAL at aol.com

To:
sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org

Subject:
Re: [Sca-cooks] Does almond milk curdle?

Given
all the crap that's in commercial almond milk, I wouldn't use it as

<<<
I think it is fairly safe to say that almond milk in period is generally

*not*
made with broth, as it is most often seen in Lenten/fast day

recipes,
and those days preclude meat products. Which includes broth.

Liutgard
>>>

Quite
the contrary, almond milk was made with fish broth on fish days. I don?t know
how many recipes I have published in my blog that include almond milk but if
you search this I think you will find that all as of to date include a meat
broth. I am talking Sent Sovi, Nola, Al-Andalus 13th century and Fadalat as my
subject is Spanish. By meat I mean fish, poultry and four legged animals.

And
I happen to have notes by which to look up the recipes with almond

milk.

Recipes
38, 47, 63, 90, 101, and 138 (as numbered in Curye on

Inglysch)
say that they have a milk or almond milk, and call for the

almonds
to be mixed with something other than water. The first three

use
broth of various kinds of flesh, 90 uses wine, 101 salmon broth,

and
138 wine plus vinegar. Pretty many other recipes with almond milk

also
call for flesh, though I'd estimate that the majority don't.

So
I, for one, would certainly call a mixture of ground almonds with

broth
or wine an almond milk, once it has been strained. BTW some of

these
recipes don't say to draw the milk, but I am guessing that they

only
omitted that instruction casually, or for brevity.

--

Henry
of Maldon/Alex Clark

Date:
Mon, 1 Dec 2014 15:43:49 -0800

From:
Donna Green <donnaegreen at yahoo.com>

To:
sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org

Subject:
[Sca-cooks] Almond Milk

I've
found that if you soak the almonds overnight to peel them, instead of
blanching, you get a creamery almond milk. I think it is a function of the heat
... if the almonds aren't "cooked" until they are added to the hot
broth/water/whatever you get a more milk like result.